Falling Twig
by wolveswolvesandmorewolves
Summary: Twig is little kitten who lives in a cardboard-box on the side of a street with his brothers, sister, and mother. His father, Ashclaw, always seems to appear every evening and disappear every morning before sun-rise. And sometimes you start to wonder what really is happening every day. So Twig decides to follow his father one morning. And is clearly surprised by what he finds.
1. Chapter 1

** Okay so this is my very first Warrior fanfic, so go easy on me. This just came to my head the other day. **

** Anyway, enjoy!**

** -Lilith**

Twig hadn't realized how beautiful the snow was.

In the darkness of the box, he was the only one who was awake. The side of the cardboard box, which had been torn away, was the only light source. It dimly outlined the shape of the wicker basket and his mother, who had her back to him and was dozing fitfully. His littermates, Robin, Blue, and Branch, were curled into their mother's stomach, snoring softly. His father was nowhere to be seen.

If his littermates had been awake, they would be romping in the snow, or trying to catch Robin's unnaturally long tail. But they weren't, so at first Twig had yearned for their company. Now he was too busy gazing in awe at the white flakes that drifted to the ground lazily.

His small mouth slowly opened, exposing his little pink tongue. He had never seen snow before. There was almost always a winter chill along the abandoned street where they lived, but there had never been something as strange as the almost-visible flakes.

"Be careful: I don't want you to get a cold." A soft voice said, and he jumped with surprise before looking around.

His mother, Grey, was peering at him with gentle blue eyes. They were the same blue eyes that Blue and Robin had, but Bird and Twig had the same oak-colored eyes as their father. Her pure white fur shimmered as she slunk from the basket, leaving the sleeping forms of his brothers and only sister behind. As she sat beside him, he couldn't help but feel a thrill in his heart when he realized that he was so tall he reached her shoulder.

Even though he was big for his age, he was nothing compared to his mother's elegance.

Grey had the softest white fur, sleek against her plump frame. Even though they lived in the dark alleys of the neighborhood, they had never starved. His father, Ashclaw, would never let that happen.

Ashclaw was a warm and comforting tom, which seemed to make up for his constant absence. He would stay with us throughout the night but leave before the sun peeked out, signaling morning. He never came home until the sun faded away, but when he did, he always had something big and plump for us to eat.

Twig had always wondered where his father would vanish off to every day, and where he got the food. Unlike his father, he had never traveled past the willow tree on the opposite side of the street, which was where his father would always appear every day. Grey had never seemed to wonder where her mate went, but when I would ask her, she would tell me gently that he had his reasons for going wherever he went. But I could tell she wondered the same question too.

"Have you ever seen snow?" I ask, and as she wrapped her tail around me, I realized that no matter how big I was, I was still her kit.

"When I was your size, yes." She replied, looking tall and proud despite the fact we were living in a cardboard box while other cats could live in homes and get fat off of slop. Not that I was jealous.

"Was it like this?" I asked as a grey-white flake landed on my nose, making me sneeze and Grey chuckle.

"No, where I lived it was whiter and cleaner. But I guess this is pretty cool too." She said.

As I gazed out, my vision slowly became focused on the trees beyond the gritty street. The dark shadows in between the trees looked forbidding and mysterious, pulling me towards them and pushing me back at the same time. The willow no longer seemed graceful but more of mourning, its long branches arcing downward.

I was so focused on the trees I hadn't seen the dark grey shape along the edge of the trees, watching me. It wasn't until Grey nudged me and nodded towards my father when I looked up and saw it.

"Ashclaw!" I cheered, launching out on the snow. But the snow wasn't like the ground I was used to. I sunk through it, the snow going up to my chin. I looked around, surprised, then tried again, only bounding a short distance before crashing to the soft and cold earth again.

As I slowly and awkwardly made my way to Ashclaw, he watched me with an amused grin before meeting me halfway. His webbed paws and long legs made him look graceful as he headed towards me, expertly stepping through the cold wet mush that I call snow.

Suddenly I was off the ground and high in the air, only seeing a grey chest and grey long legs as he carried me by the scruff back to the box, Grey watching us, her tail curled around her paws. After he set me down, I shook my fur out like I had seen the mangy dog that had lived near us a while back as Ashclaw touched noses to Grey with affection.

"Bit too cold to be romping around in the snow isn't it?" He asked, and I stared at him.

"Never for me!" I mewl, causing Robin to stir, wake up, and then yawn. He blinked sleepily before allowing his eyes to focus.

"You look like a big wet stretched out cotton ball." He said, then saw Ashclaw and raced out of the wicker basket to knock him down, cheering his father's name as he did.

"I seem to have forgotten how big you all really are!" Ashclaw, chuckling as Robin kneaded his stomach playfully, using his forepaws to keep him down while he looked proud to have knocked down his own father. And Ashclaw was pretty big.

"Did you bring food for us?" I asked, and Ashclaw's eyes sparkled.

"Of course I did. And if you eat it all, I'll teach you to do an attack move." He said, causing us to cheer happily, which made Blue and Branch wake up.

"Will you shut up?" Blue said grumpily, focusing on the scene with her sharp blue eyes. "I'm trying to sleep. I was up last night searching through the scrap mound for blankets." She said, referring to the huge overwhelming hill of things that the humans threw out. Blankets, rotting food, and sometimes even fabric things that Grey called 'clothes' were thrown out. If we were lucky, we could find big blankets that we would use to line the insides of the basket.

"Ashclaw has dinner!" Robin said, but neither Blue nor Branch seemed to join in on his enthusiasm. Branch touched noses with their father, and Blue and Ashclaw acknowledged each other with a nod of the head.

"Well, if you let him up, maybe he can get it." Branch snapped, and Robin scurried back, allowing Ashclaw to roll to his feet.

We watched patiently as he walked to the curb, looked both ways to be safe, and then raced across like the road was hot. When he got to the other side, he darted around the willow tree and came back with a fish in his jaws.

The fish was plump and fat, its scales shimmering in the weak sunlight. He ran back across the street, then set the fish in front of me and Robin to share. As he made rounds to get more fish for Grey, Branch, Blue, and himself, I watched him.

_One day, I will figure out where you vanish off to. _

**Okay so Twig is a kind of a rogue. Doesn't really fit in with humans and doesn't really know about the Warriors yet. **

** Notice how I said yet. **

** Anyway, review! If you review it makes me happy and will make me want to post more chapters!**

** -Lilith**


	2. Chapter 2

** Okay so far? **

** Review!**

** -Lilith**

After dinner, Robin, Blue, Branch and I all bullied Ashclaw into teaching us a fighting move.

"Alright, work as one guys!" Robin said, acting as the leader as we all butted him and pushed him out into the snow.

"Grey, I'm being attacked!" Ashclaw yowled, and they both chuckled until he stopped resisting us and turned to face us.

"You're really that excited huh?" He asked, exciting cheers from all of us. Even Blue, normally the calm and collected one, let out a yowl of her own.

"Well, first thing you need to learn is that you will probably screw up if you don't calm down." He said, and we all sat in a neat line and watched him carefully, even though on the inside we were all pretty excited.

"Good. Now watch me." He said, and before our eyes he did a move. For one minute, we could see our father, and then in three seconds time all there was of him was a grey blur. When he finished, he stared at us expectedly, like he had suspected us to immediately know what to do.

My littermates and I stared at him with awe, then Branch broke the silence. "What?" He asked.

"It's a twist, followed by a claw swipe. Watch again." He said, and made his movements deliberately slow. This time, I could actually see what he did and was amazed that he knew how to do something like that.

"We're going to learn how to do that?" I asked, and he nodded, then asked who would go first.

"ME! ME!" Branch cried, and Ashclaw's mouth curled into a smile.

"Alright. You probably should start off at a running start to gain some momentum, then leap into the air and twist and at the last moment claw out like you're raking your claws down somebody's flank. Got it?" He said, and we all watched as Branch took a running start, leaped, and then twisted in midair.

It was off though, and he didn't have time to claw the air before tumbling to the earth. "Aww, so close!" He said, shaking the snow off him.

"I'll go next." I volunteered, then copied Branch's moves up to the twist. I made my body stretch out as I did, and as the world spun I blindly swiped out a claw. Next thing I knew, I was in the snow, but I had landed on my paws, which was a good sign.

"Good. Little more practice." Ashclaw said, and then watched the rest of us preform the same move. Nobody really got it before Grey called us in, claiming that she didn't want us to catch colds. We trudged inside, wet and cold yet filled with the desire to impress our father.

"Maybe next time you'll get it." Ashclaw said as he settled down at the front of the box to keep watch.

When was next time though?

By the morning, I had figured everything out. Unfortunately, I was a bit too late.

"Grey, where is Ashclaw?" I asked, and she flicked her tail outside. Overnight, it had started snowing again, lightly coating the concrete and the treetops, but as I peered through it I could still see the receding shape of Ashclaw, his tail swinging in the morning air.

Racing outside, I tried to catch him, but my short legs were no match for his long strides. Nerveless, I ran into the woods, intent on finding him.

A minute later, I was completely lost. I couldn't see Ashclaw anymore, and I didn't know where exactly I was. All I knew was that I was so far away from the house I didn't know how to get back, which turns I took….

"Ashclaw!" I yowled, hoping he would hear me.

No response, no sign of him, nothing.

Another few steps, I wanted to just curl up right there and wait for somebody to find me. Grey was probably looking for me, but the woods was so big she probably didn't know where to go. And wherever Ashclaw was, he was too far away to hear me. Even the birds and squirrels were quiet, as if sensing my distress.

Lost. Hopelessly lost.

Suddenly the bushes quivered, as if there was a rabbit or something inside of them. Ashclaw hadn't taught me how to hunt yet, but I knew that I couldn't make a sound.

Crouching down, I crept forward silently, making sure to keep my tail off the ground. The bush trembled again, and as I coiled my muscles to spring, it got still again.

Before I could leap, something jumped out of it and flew at me, causing me to crash to the ground.

"Gotcha!"

**So who is the newcomer? **

** Review!**

** -Lilith**


	3. Chapter 3

** Ok, so some of you were wondering what the heck is going on. Let me clear some stuff up for you. This is in the future, so if you don't know who Ashclaw is from the Warriors series, it's alright. Some warrior names may seem familiar. And if you caught the fact that I said Clan cat, pardon me, but I hope you kind of got the picture. **

** Review!**

** -Lilith**

A pair of green eyes stared down at me, sparkling in the sunlight. A cat, about my size or smaller, had jumped out of the bushes and had tackled me, and was now staring at me with excited eyes. She didn't look familiar.

"Get off of me!" I wriggled, but the cat didn't let up, using her weight to keep me down with a grin.  
Then I remembered something Robin did when we tackled him. Using my tail, I used it to tap her on the back, and when she spun around I dove out from beneath her.

"Got you!" I cheer, but before I could move she was on me again.

"Smart guy aren't you?" She asked. "Not that it matters. Blazingstar is going to be so mad when he finds out a kit from another clan is in _our_ territory."

"What clan?" I ask, and she studied me more closely.

"You're too weak to be a warrior, aren't you? You must be one of those cats who eat slop and do nothing." She said, her mouth curling with disgust.

I snarled at that. "I don't know who you are, but when Ashclaw here's about this he will be so mad-

"You know Ashclaw?" She interrupted my blind rant.

"Of course I know Ashclaw." I say, and she got off of me.

"I'll take you to him then." She replied, then seemed to vanish in the fern leaves.

I didn't know what to do for a moment. Should I go back to the shelter of my cardboard box? Or should I follow the one cat who seemed to know where my father vanished off to?

The cat suddenly poked her head through the bush. "Are you coming?" She asked.

This was my chance.

Turning, I followed her through the foliage.

She seemed to know where she was going. As we walked through the damp and humid forest, she spoke.

"What's your name anyway?" She asked.

"Twig. What's yours?" I asked, hoping to start a conversation so I could learn more information.

"Thymekit. Twig is a weird name." She said.

"So is Thymekit." I replied, and she twitched.

She looked oddly like me. Her pelt was a soft dusty grey, looking soft and smooth to the touch. Small body, slightly curled ears, and no proof of an owner told me that this kitten must live on her own.

I couldn't help but notice that we were getting closer and closer to the heart of the woods. The earth beneath my feet grew damp, and the terrain began to look more like a swamp than a forest. "Where are your owners? Shouldn't you go back to them?" I asked, and she sniffed with disdain.

"Where are your owners?" She asked.

"I don't have any." I replied.

"Good. We think that having owners proves that you are soft, that you can't take living out here. I should warn you: Blazingstar is rough when it comes to intruders from other clans or rogues or wherever you're from."

_We? Who is we?_

Suddenly a cat leaped over a bush, her paws meeting the soft earth with a thump. She was a lot bigger and older than Thymekit, her dark brown pelt sleek in the light, her amber eyes flashing with satisfaction.

"There you are Thymekit! I've been looking for you everywhere! Violetbloom is freaking out and-who's your friend?" She asked, noticing me.

Thymekit glanced at me. "A little kit I found. Says his name is Twig. He doesn't look like a clan cat though, and he says he doesn't have owners." She replied, and the brown cat gingerly stepped forward to sniff him.

When she pulled back, her eyes were filled with curiosity and confusion. "Doesn't smell like anything really. Either way, he should go back to where he came from." She said.

"But Frogleap! He says he knows Ashclaw!" The younger she-cat whined, and the brown tabby- Frogleap- looked at him like she didn't know what to do with him.

"Do you now? Well this is interesting." She said, then sighed. "Come along then. Blazingstar will want to know about this."  
As we walked, Thymekit fell in step with me.

"Frogleap is really cool. She's only been a warrior for a month, so she lets me go easy for getting into trouble. You shouldn't be worried about her." She murmured.

"Should I be worried about Blazingstar?" I asked, and she seemed to think about that for a minute before shrugging.

"Just watch your mouth. We can get easily offended." She replied.

And, here we go again with the we.

Suddenly we seemed to be standing in a camp filled with cats. Two she-cats dozed under the shade of a willow. Kittens about Thymekit's size played with a ball of moss, while a she-cat watched them from the entrance to a little nest-like thing. A black tom stood at the center of the camp, directing orders in a commanding sort of way.

"Is that Blazingstar?" I asked, flicking my tail towards the tom.

"No. That's Streamtail, the clan deputy. He's Blazingstar's second in command. Blazingstar is my father, and is way worse."  
There was a cry of delight, and the she-cat who had been watching her kits raced up to Thymekit and began licking her over. "Where have you been? I've been so worried! When you're father hears about this…" She mewed, and it took me a minute to take in the color of her pelt. It was a breathtaking mix of bluish-grey, and her light blue eyes seemed to kind of blend with her fur.

"Who are you?" A kit at her side, who had white with grey patches for fur, asked bluntly. He had the same blue eyes as the she-cat licking Thymekit, which told me that he was her kit.

"I think that's what we all want to know."

** So to give you a bit of a clue on which camp Twig happened to find, it's RiverClan. Sorry to spoil. **

** And Gummybear01, sadly, you have to be a member of Fanfiction to post a story. It's free and really easy and I love this website, so I recommend joining if you have some good fanfic ideas. **

** Review!**

** -Lilith **


	4. Chapter 4

** I don't have a comment, so just read it. **

** Review!**

** -Lilith**

The black tom who had been directing orders gazed down at me, his blue-grey eyes curious. His fur was long and his body was muscled, lined with scars. At his side, a tom with short light grey fur stared at me too, his eyes seeming to bore into my head.

"We don't like strangers." The grey tom growled, baring his large fangs in a warning.

"Calm down Stoneheart. He's only a kit. What's your name?" Streamtail asked in a much gentler tone.

"His name is Twig." Thymekit said before I could answer.

At this Streamtail frowned. "Definitely not a clan cat, are you?" He asked, and I shook my head. "Interesting. What's he doing here?"

"He said he was looking for Ashclaw." Frogleap cut in, who had been watching the ordeal silently. They all stared at me with curiosity.

"Sorry kit, but Ashclaw is on patrol. Why don't you play moss ball or something." The grey tom, whom they all called Stoneheart, said. He clearly wasn't that friendly towards newcomers.

"Good idea. I'm sure that will keep him out of our fur." A white she-cat called, and I realized we had seemed to have drawn a crowd.

"Now Ivoryheart: just because your mate is mean doesn't mean you have to be." An elderly she-cat mewed to her, her patched white pelt shining in the sunlight.

Stoneheart flicked his eyes at that. I got the feeling that Ivoryheart must be his mate.

"Where did he come from?"

"Is he a clan cat?"

"No, but he isn't wearing a collar, and nobody has spotted rogues."  
"What's that weird smell on him?"

"And how does he know Ashclaw?"

"Calm down. Blazingstar will decide his outcome." Streamtail yowled over the murmurs, which immediately escalated.

"Ask him then!"

"Yeah! Ask him!" A golden-furred she-cat yowled.

At that Streamtail glared. "Goldenpaw, you are an apprentice, are you not? Being the medicine cat's apprentice doesn't make you anymore special, and even though you can go to the clan meetings, your say means nothing. And Daisyleaf can choose whether or not to let you go to the meetings. Would you like it if I spoke to her about this?" Streamtail asked, his voice icy, and Goldenpaw looked away and shook her head, embarrassed.

"Good. It is Blazingstar's decision, and he will tell us of his choice when he decides to tell us, and not a moment before. Have I made myself clear?" He asked, and nobody dared to meet his eyes as they all murmured agreement.

Man, this guy would be a great leader one day.

The crowd dispersed, the horde of cats moving away, some going to the shade, others heading towards the large pile of dead fish in the middle of the camp to eat. A couple of them watched me and stared at me with curious eyes before Violetbloom scared them away.

"What is this place?" I asked Thymekit.

"This is RiverClan camp."  
"River-what?" I asked, and she stared at me like I had just grown an extra head.

"RiverClan. One of the four clans. Cat clans. Warriors who live in the woods. Doesn't any of this ring a bell?" She asked, and I shook my head, bewildered.

"Well, as you probably know, some cats prefer to live the quiet life in weird nests and eat slop. Others roam around, not really in the middle. But there is another choice. You can become a warrior, one of the cats who live by the Warrior Code. We get our warrior names and everything. I want to be called Thymeleaf, and I really want Rosetail to be my mentor-

"Maybe you should start from the beginning, sis." The white and grey furred tom said, and I realized that these two were littermates.

"Hush Mosskit. I thought I was teaching this young and blind kit, not you. Anyway, there are four clans: ThunderClan, ShadowCLan, WindClan, and RiverClan. Right now we're in RiverClan. We fight for like survival and go to a ton of stuff, like wars and even some romance troubles between clans. Like these two toms from ThunderClan are half ThunderClan half WindClan, and they like stopped this really bad guy named Tigerstar from coming back. It was awesome.

"Anyway, we all kind of hate each other unless there is a truce going on that doesn't have to do with our clan meetings. Those happen on a little island in the middle of the lake, which is where we all go so we can kind of trade news. I haven't gone yet since I'm just a kit, but I hope I really can eventually. Those are kind of a big deal. Anyway, we all hope to just live a normal life. Kits want to be an apprentice, and apprentices want to be warriors. When you're a warrior, like my mom, you can have an apprentice to train too or have a mate, but either way you kind of have to fight in the battles and catch food, follow Blazingstar and Streamtail. Even though Stoneheart, that grey tom over there, is really bossy, he has to follow rules too. But I heard that he wants to be a leader someday. Really ambitious."  
A white tom a little bigger than me appeared, and I stared at him, taking in his intelligent green eyes, smooth white fur, and muscled body, thinking of Grey.

The thought of Grey brought a pang to my heart. I had left her and the others, not telling them where I was going, just to find Ashclaw. She was probably watching the forest from her box now, worry clouding her mind.

"Look! There's Blazingstar!" A sudden shout from Thymekit jolted me from my mind, and I followed her gaze. A big, white, muscly tom with deep green eyes and a black tipped tail hopped upon a smooth grey rock, standing at the top and staring out calmly. A crowd had gathered around him, watching me with respectful eyes. He looked tall and intimidating.

A loud yowl silenced the crowd.

"Streamtail has told me an interesting story: A rogue kit has followed one of our own into our camp, seeking one of our faithful warriors, Ashclaw. Ashclaw and this mysterious kit, come forth so that we may address this issue."  
Thymekit nudged me forward, and as I took a shaking step forward, the cats all turned to stare at me, their eyes curious and slightly hateful. I tried to take another step but failed, allowing myself to shrink back, the weight of their stares feeling like a thousand pounds on my back.

Violetbloom smoothed my fur down with her tail to calm me before gently leading me forward. I felt stronger at her side, comfortable, and dependent, like I had always felt when I was with Grey. When we got to the front, Violetbloom stopped and let me step forward, seeming to fading into the crowd.

As the leader of RiverClan stared down at me, I slowly lifted my chin, acknowledging that I was the mysterious rogue kit.

My heart racing, I prepared myself for the verdict.

** So what does Blazingstar say? Will Twig go back home? **

** Review!**

** -Lilith**


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